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Case studies of arts organizations leveraging technology through new and novel approaches, research updates from AMTLab contributors, and monthly summaries of technological happenings in the arts management world.

Digital badges are an alternative method of credentialing that can identify specific skills a learner has mastered through the course of their own self-directed learning. Badges can be acquired in online, in-class, or apprenticeship learning settings. In spite of the great potential that digital badges offer for distinguishing an individual’s job-specific credentials, work must be done to make them more widely understood.

This week we're looking back at Jackie Shimshoni's 2015 publication, The Future of Micro-Credentialing: An Overview of Digital Badges for the Arts. This piece is meant to be a guide for hiring managers in the arts that: defines what digital badging is; explains suggested taxonomies of digital badges; reviews the acquisition process; introduces initiatives to standardize and create accreditation; compares viewpoints on strengths and weaknesses compared to the traditional learning accreditation model; and demonstrates the need for digital badges as a credential; suggests other considerations for using digital badges in the hiring of employees.